[Allan Gibbs]

With all the damaged Elises, I've been thinking about which I would choose assuming the repair will make the clam shell as good as new.

My normal reaction is to have it replaced but I don't want to have something that's damage. The other consideration is, if I have it replaced, it will definitely drive the insurance rates up for the Elise in the future. Can you image how insurance companies are going to feel when they find out a 2 mph bump is going cost $3,000 to $5,000.

So, here's my question to all you. Given the repair is equal to a brand new shell,which would you prefer: repair or replace?

 

[zvezdah1]

I think that totally depends on the degree of damage, ntfll had his fixed and seems pretty happy with it.

Chris

 

[Surferjer]

I would rather have it repaired good as new and keep our insurance low if that's possible. The body shop doing mine said they'd have to put mad support on the back side to make it strong, and that would be heavier. So I'm going with their recommendation for a new back end. However, I think I'll keep the old one. Maybe I can find a glass man to fix it up. Then it has real value, both to me or on the market.

 

[Stan]

>>>The body shop doing mine said they'd have to put mad support on the back side to make it strong, and that would be heavier. <<<

There is no reason it has to be much heavier. At a guess the 16 inch crack when repaired might be a pound heavier. Maybe less. Very few shops know how to do FG work though...that may be part of the matter in many cases. All shops know how to unbolt and rebolt stuff (or should!).

The Lotus Europa Service Manual shows how to do fiberglass repair in it...wonder if the Elise book does the same.

If you post PICs of FG damage to the Seloc guys, they could comment on it. Since over there many of the shops do know how to repair FG.

 

[Miguel]

Depends on damage amount and who is at fault.

This will be a incident dependent decision in my case.

 

[Surferjer]

I'm with you Stan. They may not have the ability to do it at Rothrock, I just don't know. Many body shops are afraid to touch it because it's exotic and too new. I feel like I have no options here.

 

[TimMullen]

Can you image how insurance companies are going to feel when they find out a 2 mph bump is going cost $3,000 to $5,000.

You might want to check the price of repairing the "safety" bumpers on a typical Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, etc. Again, the reason that Lotus was given a waiver for the lack of bumpers on the Elise was because the cost of repair was similar to the cost of repairing the bumpers on a typical "luxury" car.